Sïsang
Sïsang /si.sɑŋ/ ʃi.sɑŋ. An experimental and personal conlang, designed for the verbal description of art. Phonology, alphabet and grammar are a priori, lexicon is adapted from Mandarin Chinese. Phonology Consonants Vowels Allophones These are the allophones of close vowels that appear in front of other vowels, and/or syllable initially. /i/ - j /y/ - ɥ /ɯ/ - ɰ /u/ - w Other allophones: /si/ - ʃi /zi/ - ʒi /tsi/ - tʃi /dzi/ - dʒi Phonotactics CV(V)(N), where C can be any consonant, including an approximant (see Allophones, above). No two identical vowels can be next to each other in a syllable. In cases where two approximants land next to each other, for example if the syllable starts with a close vowel (which turns into an approximant syllable-initially), and is followed by a close vowel and another vowel (the former turns into an approximant before the latter vowel), a schwa is inserted between the two approximants (romanized as an apostrophe, but not represented in standard orthography). The same happens if two nasals come together, such as at a syllable boundary. Tone There are three contour tones, a rising tone, a falling tone, and a flat tone. Writing System The writing system is not yet online, but this romanization will serve for now. Tones These tone markings are written after the last vowel in the syllable. Rising: ↑ Falling: ↓ IMPORTANT NOTE: This conlang, being a work in progress, does not yet have a use for the phonemes /v m̊ n̊ ŋ̊ ɶ/ or an independent /z/. These gaps will be filled, but they won't be discarded, because they may come in handy. Grammar Morphosyntax There are two types of word in Sïsang: the noun, and the predicate. They are formed as follows: Noun: Describe the noun by a set of adjectives. Choose the adjectives based on how specifically you need to describe the noun. Cut superfluous adjectives if possible. Any case, mood, number, or any other kind of grammatical modifier is treated as an adjective, just as necessary as any other. Nouns do not have roots. Predicate: Unlike a noun, predicates do have roots. The root of a predicate is always a variation on the verb root for 'to be', or 'to become'. The predicate is head initial, so all adverbs and grammatical markers (tense, number, &c) are suffixed. Reduplication of any modifier is for emphasis and exaggeration. Syntax In a sentence that another language would interpret as being transitive, such as "Jim eats an orange", Sïsang would restructure it to be intransitive, usually in a way that resembles passive voice: "Orange movedintojim" The word order is Noun-predicate. Lexicon The lexicon is composed of a relatively small number of mono-morphemic, usually monosyllabic words which can be agglutinated to form larger ones. Verbs: Present tense of 'to be' (is, are): ïou↑ Present tense of 'to become' (becomes): bïä↓n Adjectives: Numbers (base-6): number: sïu↓ 0: dï↑ng 1: ïï 2: ii↓ 3: sän 4: si↓ 5: uu↑ 10: ïïdï↑ng 11: ïïïï 100: ïïdï↑ngdï↑ng Colors: Color: sä↓ Red: kho↑ng Green: dü↓ Blue: dä↑n White, bright, shining: bäï↑ Black, dark, dim: khäï Spatial attributes: Space: dzïän Big: dä↓ Small: sïo↑ Forward, future tense marker: tsïä↑n Backward, past tense marker: dï↓ Left: zuo↑ Right: ïou↓ Up, high: sa↓ng Down, low: sïä↓ Near: dzï↓n Far: y'wä↑n Time: Time: si↑ Fast: sïu↓n Slow: mä↓n Category:Languages